The processing of various oil seeds, typically, involves the separation of the hull, or outer encasement, from the meat so that the meat can be further utilized. For example, in the case of soybeans, it is generally desirable to separate the meat from the hulls prior to recovering oil from the meat.
With soybeans, evolution and improvement in methods employed for separation of the hulls from the meats is ongoing. Strong interest in effecting such improvements has arisen in recent years because of the necessity of reducing costs in the soybean processing industry. These costs include, among others, the cost of investment, labor, energy, and manufacturing overhead.
The various prior art attempts to improve conditioning processes, while bettering earlier processes, fall short of solving all of the problems existent in this technology. Certainly, apparatus which would enable effective economic processing of an oil seed such as soybeans and yet involve few steps would be a significant advance. For example, a process which would obviate the need for predrying and tempering of the oil seeds would go far to reduce the cost of processing.
Various solutions of the prior art accomplish some of these desired goals. None, however, accomplishes each and every goal and provides each desirable feature dictated by the prior art. For example, one proposed solution eliminates the predrying and tempering steps, but involves excessive investment cost and use of electric power. In addition, it requires separate systems for conditioning and hull removal.
Another proposed solution is intended to improve the quality of oil recovered when conditioning and dehulling is accomplished in accordance with the process. The proposed solution, however, produces meal of lower quality than would be desired due to the excessive moisture, temperature, and time used. Further, this solution uses more energy and requires more costly equipment.
It is to these problems and desirable features dictated by the prior art that the present invention is directed. It is an apparatus which improves over all known devices, and methods employing those devices, as known in the prior art.